Mapletree said to prepare $1.2B Singapore IPO of property assets

Mapletree Investments Pte plans to raise more than S$1.5 billion ($1.2 billion) through the initial public offering of a real estate investment trust backed by assets in Hong Kong and China, said two people with knowledge of the matter. Mapletree Greater China Commercial Trust may start trading in Singapore in March and will include the Festival Walk shopping mall in Hong Kong and Gateway Plaza office complex in Beijing, said the people, who asked not to be be identified as the information is private. The deal would mark the biggest IPO of a real estate investment trust in Singapore, surpassing two earlier offerings by Mapletree. Mapletree Commercial Trust (MCT) , which raised $754 million in April 2011, and Mapletree Industrial Trust (MINT) , which completed a $714 million IPO in September 2010, are both up more than 40 percent from their offer prices, data compiled by Bl...